My left ventricle says "ouch;" Some contemporary bits of writings relating to the musical moniker that is, "Girl From Winter Jargon"

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Alonetone.com - More of the same...?

Okay so above you can find a widget from http://alonetone.com/winterjargon/ I know technically the Girl From Winter Jargon Gluefactory gig is already on http://winterjargon.bandcamp.com/, but I just wanted to raise a bit of awareness about who alonetone are and what they do, as I am sure they will likely be just what someone out there is looking for. Essentially alonetone is like an alternative to soundcloud, except that they don't have any means of upgrading and apparently are not actually after your money.

Everything you upload there can be downloaded for free. There isn't actually any other option, neither is there any means of selling. The whole deal with alonetone is that they are a one person operation (and a few friends) and have set up a simple, non commercial website for musicians who want to share things for free and meet other musicians.

Or in their own words:

"alonetone is a place for small label, do-it-yourself and everyday musicians and bands to upload their music and freely share it on the internets.

If you make music (and own the rights to it) then this site is something you should know about!

Really speaking though, I will always favour bandcamp.com as my #1 choice because I think it's a superior place for unsigned, independent bands and artists, and I have yet to find anything better. You can sell your music, or give it away.

Bandcamp only take a small percentage of sales - certainly compared to other high trafficked places like itunes where you have to be prepared to say goodbye to any hope of profit in exchange for the exposure you'll get in return.

You can collect email addresses from anyone who downloads your music.

You can customise the look of the page so it looks like an extension of your actual website. Your band's music page can look far more professional on bandcamp.com than it will ever look on reverbnation,myspace, soundcloud, etc... because you'll be confined to the design of those websites.

Possibly best of all... No flippin social network integration. (Hooray!!)

In my opinion bandcamp's only real flaw is that they don't allow you to upload covers. They will remove your entire account with no explanation if they find you out. (I learnt this the hard way)

Soundcloud however, do allow covers and remixes and it seems to be quite a popular place and first choice for many. For some reason though, I just can't seem to get along with soundcloud. Possibly if you'd never heard of bandcamp.com before then I could understand why soundcloud.com it might seem like the best thing since... erm... myspace.

Granted, maybe you prefer the fact that you can upload randomly and remix and have the freedom in doing as you please and that you like the whole communicative thing too. I can understand too, how having people comment on their favourite parts of your songs or to give constructive critisim on a demo ect... can have it's uses. But in my opinion, soundcloud widgets are butt ugly and awkward. You have to pay to upgrade for nicer-looking ones, which I think is a tad ridiculous. alonetone.com does most of what soundcloud.com does (arguably better in some cases) for free. The main difference is that far more people use and have heard of soundcloud and only a very small amount of people use alonetone. Hence why I am prepared to write about the underdog. Alonetone have a very noble approach in what they do and I think they deserve more recognition for it.

So for now, although ultimately I will be sticking with bandcamp.com for most things, I will say that on http://alonetone.com/winterjargon there are some additional notes on the gluefactory tracks that aren't anywhere else online. Also, I am planning on releasing some covers soon, and I might just use alonetone over soundcloud to promote them. Afterall, their widgets look so much better.